America’s Favorite Cookie Could Also Be America’s Favorite on Social Media

America’s Favorite Cookie Could Also Be America’s Favorite on Social Media

By Nicole Santos, Intern

It’s about that time when most popularized brands hop onto the social media bandwagon. It’s not just a trend or a seasonal fad, its here to stay. As public relations professionals and journalists alike are now accustomed to (or getting accustomed to) the utilization of social media to go about their daily responsibilities, so are marketers and advertisers. The use of social media has found itself especially beneficial in the success of a particular product, service, or person because of its impeccable communication.

Through social mediums like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and other such sites, we, as consumers, and professionals, no matter the given field, are no longer limited to just social activity among our friends and family. It is now second nature for us to see a company or organization engaging with us in that social activity on these sites. Whether for advertising strategies, a launch pad for a new campaign being sent out, or to find a particular target audience to market to, there is constant interaction between corporate and consumer that never stops. It can’t. That’s the whole point of being proactive via social media. You’re able to keep up with the latest and the greatest, and if you just stop, you lose track of everything going on.

That’s how we know that social media and using it through the several forms of technology modern society has become so attached to and dependent on, i.e. smart phones and tablets, has taken its toll on us. There’s no turning back though. All that can be done at this point is to advance and grow with that technology and with the improvement of communication through these outlets.

As a bystander, it’s important to notice when such companies are taking full advantage of social media to engage with their audience. It would make sense to see that a popular choice is during the broadcasting of an important event, using the Oscars and the Super Bowl this year as examples; both at completely different ends of the spectrum. It is at spectacles like these where social media users are most active as well, posting about similar observations, trending certain topics, and sharing opinions on like ideas.

Oreo, for starters, has done a phenomenal job in being aggressive via Twitter and Instagram, and even has a few statistics to prove it. At this year’s Super Bowl, although several companies were live-tweeting along with their followers, Oreo reigned high with its “Power Out? No Problem. ‘You Can Still Dunk in the Dark’” tweet shortly after the blackout at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. It received a whopping total of 15,000 retweets.

Currently, its Facebook page has over 32 million fans, from about 200 countries. With over 76,000 followers on Twitter, and an increase from 2,200 to 87,000 followers on Instagram, Oreo now plans on moving its efforts towards gaining more subscribers on its YouTube channel. They’ve launched their “Cookie VS. Crème” campaign, which started on Instagram last month.

Oreo graced the social media world to another extent just after the Oscars this past Sunday, where it sent out four Tweets during the program, with catchy spins on movies and TV that were nominated (or rather, were winning actual Oscars) and popularized. This was all a part of their #OREOmotionpics bunk. Disney’s Wreck It Ralph was playfully Oreo-fied in their “Why Wreck Something When You Can Dunk It?!” picture:

Oreo’s tweets also made references to Argo, and The Walking Dead. They all took a fun turn on the relevance of the airing simultaneous to Oreo’s product: the delicious black and white sandwich cookie itself.

Not all companies are as lucky as this Nabisco brand, though. While real-time marketing was being strongly enforced during the Oscars, some flopped just as badly as Jennifer Lawrence’s stage mishap, despite it being a showcase of the actress’ cute and quirky side. U.S. Cellular was one of those flops, and it was left to viewers to be the judge of that:

It’s safe to say that the warranted accomplishments that Oreo has reaped from their campaigns are a direct result of their mastering of real-time media relations skills. This alongside inbound media relations skills are critical for a working and even an aspiring public relations professional (such as myself) to get an appropriate amount of publicity, whether for a client or for a given organization.